Gender pay gap 2018

The Equality Act 2010 places certain duties on public sector organisations to focus and drive equality and fairness across all protected characteristics. We are committed to ensuring fair opportunity for all our employees, as well as focusing on how we police across Cheshire, to ensure everyone has access to our services and is treated fairly.

From March 2018 the Act requires all public sector organisations and UK companies with 250 or more employees to carry out 'Gender Pay Reporting'. This shows the difference between mean (average) and median (mid-point) earnings of men and women in the workplace.

This is a different concept to that of equal pay. It is unlawful to pay people unequally, because they are a man or a woman, and at Cheshire Constabulary men and women are paid equally at every grade. However, if one gender dominates higher pay graded roles then there will be a gender pay gap.

To ensure transparency the Gender Pay Gap will be an annual audit published on our website and includes all police officers, police staff and police community support officers (both full and part-time). The report for 2018 shows figures taken on the "snapshot date" - 31st March 2018.

The pay for both police officers and staff is determined by the Home Office. The Force has a higher number of police officers (c.2050) than police staff (c.1700), and on the whole the pay points for officers are at a higher rate than staff. Our figures show that we have more male officers in more senior roles, as well as more females in staff roles - contributing to the gender pay gap. Attracting more females to join as officers continues to be a key priority within the Constabulary's People Strategy.

Cheshire Constabulary's full Gender Pay Gap Report for 2018, along with an overview of the action being taken to address the gap, can be viewed through the webpage below.